The FoodShed is enjoying the Memorial Day weekend and this springtimey Seattle weather. (We’ll refuse to call it summery until it gets to at least 70.) Anyway. After a long bike ride and a medium-sized run, we were craving something with clean flavors – something packed with vegetables that is also delicious to eat and fulfilling enough to be a full meal. Our cupboards are also overflowing with various rice noodle products after Melanie’s (unchaperoned) trip to the Asian market, so we came up with this dish to help reduce inventory AND have a delicious dinner.

Delicious, Flavorful Rice Noodle Salad

If you have these items on hand, this is a VERY easy dish to put together quickly. If you don’t have these items on hand, then this dish is still darn quick to make. Run out and get these items. It’ll be worth it.

Simple Rice Noodle Salad Ingredients

Noodles Boil a large saucepan of water and cook the rice vermicelli noodles according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside in a colander.

Grill Meanwhile, heat up your grill. Salt and pepper two chicken breasts and let them come to room temperature. Put the chicken on your grill over medium-high heat for about twelve minutes each side, depending on thickness. (Cut into them to make sure they’re not pink in the middle.)

Chop Chop into similar sized pieces – 1 red bell pepper and 1 cucumber. If you have and like wakame (dried seaweed), soak enough for four servings. Chop the chicken up also.

Dressing Mix 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon (and a little splash more) mirin, a pinch of salt, and a splash of chili oil. Mix thoroughly and add more chili oil if you’d like it spicier, and balance out the flavors with more rice vinegar or mirin if you’d like.

Layer the vermicelli rice noodles in four bowls. Layer the wakame on top (if you like wakame). Then layer the cucumber, then the red bell pepper, then the chicken. Pour equal parts of dressing over each bowl and top with chopped cilantro. Enjoy!